Today, a wide variety of different media and different instruments are used to record evidence relating to mishaps and accidents. This evidence may be collected and stored at remote locations and can include the information in handwritten notes, e-mail, text documents, taped or transcribed interviews with witnesses, other multi-formatted data files, and images generated by software and/or hardware. The collection, organization and integration of such evidence are difficult, time consuming processes for the investigating team. These processes are necessary, however, to enable the most important investigation process—understanding the relevance and relationships within the evidence and information. When a mishap or accident (referred to collectively herein as a “mishap”) is investigated by a team that is geographically dispersed, information management and coordination problems are particularly acute. Few systems have been developed that can support these fundamental investigation processes.
What is needed is a system that facilitates organization, collaboration and communication between two or more system users, who may be but need not be remote from each other, for data gathering for, and analysis of, a class of events, such as mishaps. Preferably, the system should be available on an intra-net or internet system and the messages should preserve confidentiality, encourage unconstrained communication between users and preserve process integrity.